Escuela de Tomate
by HalfPastEight
Summary: High School AU. It's the first day back after summer - Antonio's expecting another year of laughs with his friends and boring lessons, but he didn't expect someone new to find their way into his life. Better than it sounds I promise XD Rated T to be safe
1. Prologue

Title: Escuela de Tomate

Rating:

Genre: Humour, Romance

Summary: High School AU. It's the first day back after summer - Antonio's expecting another year of laughs with his friends and boring lessons, but he didn't expect someone new to find their way into his life. Meet Lovino.

Main Pairings: Spamano, PruHun, France x Everyone

Warnings: Romano's mouth, Hungary being a yaoi fan and France ahead. Proceed with caution.

Rated T for touchy subjects.

Characters: Spain and Romano

**A/N: Ohai, gaiz. Meet my horrible and weird new story about Antonio's life at school. Honhonhon. I don't even know. :D**

**BETTER THAN IT SOUNDS I PROMISE ;-; **

**By the way, I'M BRITISH YO, so any words with alternate spellings in Brit will be spelt Britly. **

**Don't ask why this is called "Tomato School". Just… don't.**

**Oh, and my Italian is horribly fractured, so feel free to correct me if I do something wrong. XP**

**And, without further ado… Is the story!**

**ESCUELA DE TOMATE**

_**Prologue**_

Lovino had never felt more tired in his life.

His younger brother, Feliciano, stumbled beside him. The small boy grabbed his older brother's hand as they trudged through the airport in pursuit of their grandfather who, although the young boys could not see it, had a look of sadness plastered onto his face. The boys, who appeared no older than 10 years old, simply had looks of curiosity and fatigue in their eyes, not knowing what exactly was happening. They had never been told where they were going, and why.

"_Fratello_, veh…" Feliciano said, using his free hand to wipe a strand of auburn hair out of his face. "Where are we going?" Lovino noticed his Grandfather tense as his younger brothers small voice reached his ears.

"I don't know, Feli." Lovino said almost angrily - he tried hard not to sound like he was angry, or that he was spitting or growling or whatever, but it seemed part of his nature to sound so grumpy all the time. However, he noticed that his amber-eyed brothers face practically started glowing at the mention of the affectionate pet name that Lovino almost never used.

Lovino had expected his brother to start talking non-stop after that; however, no further words left the small boys mouth. It was almost disappointing.

The silence continued for a long time. Lovino felt himself become more and more tired as time went on - he could feel his eyes beginning to droop, and Feliciano was already leaning against his shoulder with his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful, yet there was a look of something bordering fear in his expression.

Lovino hated to admit it, but he was scared, too. He, although only just 10 years old, had to look after his 7-year-old brother, who had never been alone in his life. Granted, their Grandfather was here, but at this point, the only thing on his mind was getting the two boys away from their home to safety. He trusted the older of the Vargas brothers to take care of his younger; that was how it had always been, despite Lovino's tendency to get angry at his brother. Everyone else knew it was his way of showing that he cared.

Despite himself, Lovino was beginning to get progressively more tired. He shrugged the feeling off, but nonetheless rested his head on his brothers in a comforting gesture, gripping his hand tighter for just a moment. A small smile graced Feliciano's lips, and his eyes opened only slightly to gaze lovingly at his brother. They were unusually close for brothers, yet nobody questioned it - they did not know who their parents were, and the only family they had ever known was their unusually handsome grandfather, who was so busy all the time he had barely any time to look after the young boys.

Despite all of the hassles the boys had before they had even started to become teenagers, they did not have bad lives. Their family had a decent amount of money and, up until recently, they had lived in a large house in Venice, Italy. The boys had all the pasta and pizza they ever could have wanted and all the time in the world to spend drawing. Their grandfather had taught them to read from a young age and the two boys studied independently on their own, only attending school every now and then. They spoke both Italian and English almost fluently, even at their age, though they still struggled at other subjects.

However, only a few hours earlier, they had been rushed out of their house by their Grandfather, who had appeared completely and utterly terrified at the time. Neither of the boys knew why, and their Grandfather didn't even spare any time to explain to them why they were being rushed off onto the next plane to the United States.

Lovino peered at his brother again, who had once again closed his eyes. Satisfied that Feliciano was soundly asleep, he turned to look at his Grandfather, who was impatiently glaring at the clock.

"_Nonno_, when do we leave…?" Lovino said quietly, determined not to wake his brother up. His Grandfather simply turned to look at him with a gentle and caring stare; calmer than he'd looked for hours. "Don't know, huh?" Lovino grimaced; his Grandfather simply laughed at the return of the older brother's sour personality.

"Soon. We leave soon." His Grandfather lightly chuckled, giving the sleeping Feliciano an adoring look. Lovino frowned a little, but eventually gave up on his thoughts, and rested his head back onto his brother's. It seemed as though he wasn't getting any answers any time soon, but it wasn't as if he cared what happened. As long as his brother was safe.

"Vehh… What's going on, _fratello_…?" the high-pitched yet ear-piercingly adorable voice sounded in Lovino's ears, who turned in surprise to Feliciano, who hardly ever woke up due to noise.

"Nothing, Feli. Go back to sleep." Lovino said, trying to keep a gruff tone out of his voice, but failing. Feliciano, not content with the answer, simply pouted and snuggled closer to his brother.

It was hours before they finally had to board their plane. The fearful look had returned to the young boys' Grandfather's face again, which had finally spread to Feliciano, who was terrified to step onto the huge aeroplane. Lovino simply huffed, stepped onto the structure to reassure his brother that no, he would not die by entering it, and in further reassurance, held his hand until they were seated.

After the flight attendant had gone over the flight safety procedures and told the passengers that it would take around 8 hours before the flight landed in New York. Feliciano, now assured that he could sleep and not miss anything, rested his head back on Lovino's shoulder, who silently waited for sleep to overcome his younger brother. When the time finally came, he silently pulled out a blanket and wrapped it around his brother's shoulder, sending a quick glare to his Grandfather, who was happily watching the act of kindness without a word.

As the journey wore on, Lovino found himself growing slowly more uneasy. He didn't know if he'd fit in when he was in America. He didn't know if the Americans would like him, or if he'd like the Americans. Or, even worse, if Feliciano would make friends or not - he was suddenly overcome with fear at the thought of losing his brother. It was inevitable - Feliciano was just so loveable it would be hard _not_ to become friends with him. After what seemed like hours, Lovino's eyes began to droop, and he, too, fell into a deep and undisturbed sleep.

Needless to say, as soon as they had left the airport and Lovino had seen the streets of New York, he was overwhelmed with so many conflicting emotions that he started scowling.

**A/N: Ohhhh dear. I know this has nothing to do with high school yet. Shush, it's just the prologue. I wanted to get SOME storyline in here. XD Lovino is a little OOC here, I guess, but hey, he's looking after his little bro' ;3; I promise he'll be more IC from now on. I PROMISE.**

**By the way, I'm not telling you what's going on. Hahaha~ You'll find out eventually, m'dears.**

**The next chapters will be MUCH longer. I'm so sorry that the prologue is so short. And by this, I mean very, very sorry. I'm so sad at myself for making this short. ;3;**

**The rest of the story will be in Antonio's POV. I want to keep Lovino's thoughts secret for now. ;D**

**Translation notes- (( YES MY ITALIAN IS FRACTURED PDPSDG. ))**

**Fratello - Brother**

**Grande Fratello- Big Brother**

**Nonno - Grandfather**


	2. Chapter 1

Title: Escuela de Tomate

Rating:

Genre: Humour, Romance

Summary: High School AU. It's the first day back after summer - Antonio's expecting another year of laughs with his friends and boring lessons, but he didn't expect someone new to find their way into his life. Meet Lovino.

Main Pairings: Spamano, PruHun, France x Everyone

Warnings: Romano's mouth, Hungary being a yaoi fan and France ahead. Proceed with caution.

Rated T for touchy subjects.

Characters: Spain and Romano

**A/N: Ewww, another chapter? REALLY, me? REALLY?**

**You don't know how scared I was when I saw I had reviews for this. XD But thank you for the friendly comments 3 **

**Queen Happo: Ah, thank you! :D I'll change that when I get around to it. I was just using google translate... XD  
V-chan-rides-a-roflcopter: I find it sad when people forget Lovi's name, too ;3; But thank you for the review... Lovi will have his POV's too, yes! :D  
**

**I have so many ideas for this fic that my head is practically exploding. Ack.**

**Hopefully this is better than the prologue. We get to meet ANTONIO now. WOOO**

**Hope you enjoy it. :D**

* * *

**ESCUELA DE TOMATE**

_**Chapter 1**_

Antonio hummed happily to himself as he made breakfast for his family. He knew how insanely early it was, and that none of his family members would even be _awake _yet, but he didn't care. He liked seeing his parents and siblings smile. He liked seeing _everyone_ smile, and would go to extreme lengths to make sure _everyone_ did.

Today was his first day back at school after a summer that was filled with warm weather and time spent with his closest friends. Sure, there was the occasional rainy day, but that didn't stop him from trudging out in the rain to see his friends and spend entire days with them.

He knew plenty of people who would say that he must be out of his mind to actually _enjoy _going to school; to actually _anticipate _the day when he would return to school after weeks off. He even hated being sick because, of course, that would mean he would have to stay home, and then he _wouldn't be able to go to school._ And what an absolute _horror_ that would be.

It wasn't that he enjoyed lessons. Well, he did, to an extent - but it was more the _people_ he liked. He didn't mind some lessons; he was good at languages and he could sort of do science and maths wasn't really a problem, even if he couldn't write to save a brick in pyjamas for English, nor could he remember dates and events for history. He had always been told he was good at sport, although he only did that for fun.

No, the lessons were insignificant and Antonio just went through them as if they were nothing, not really bothering to try hard, but not completely skipping out on his education either. He was just _that _laid back. No, it was the people he got to spend time with - Francis, his perverted yet helpful French friend, Gilbert, the self-proclaimed "awesome" Prussian (No, not German. He hated being called a German because no, he was _Prussian._) And even Gilbert's crazy Hungarian "friend with privileges" Elisaveta (No, not girlfriend. Gilbert has commitment issues.) Were all pretty good friends of Antonio's, and there were others who also spoke to Antonio and had befriended him.

There was even the fact that Antonio was pretty much loved by almost every single girl in the school. There was no reason why not, he mused, since he had often been told that he had a charming personality and, creepily enough, Francis had been the one to tell him that in fact, even though Antonio himself didn't notice it, he had a pretty good body.

In any case, despite that it was only just six o'clock in the morning, Antonio was already wide awake, washed and dressed, brushed his curly brown hair, had his own breakfast and was bright and ready for school even though he didn't even have to leave for another hour yet.

First days back were _always_ exciting. At least to Antonio.

* * *

After watching his family happily eating the meal he had prepared, he had said goodbye to them all, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the door, eager to see his friends at school, even if they wouldn't arrive ages after him, since he'd arrive very early considering the time he'd left.

After waiting impatiently at the front gate to his school for almost 10 whole minutes, Gilbert and Francis had arrived. Francis had said something about not being able to hang around with them tonight due to a hot date he had, and Gilbert, instead of responding with a usual retort about how Francis always had a date or how awesome he was, said that he, too, would be going on a date that day.

Antonio had pulled a face closely resembling a kicked puppy.

"Awww, you can't leave me alone!" he whined, his olive eyes shadowed with grief, and his lips in a small and childish pout.

"Maybe you should find a girlfriend, _oui_?" Francis stated simply in a heavy French accent, flipping his wavy blonde hair in a matter-of-fact fashion. To this, Antonio simply frowned.

"Why would I need a girlfriend?" he questioned, blinking innocently. "I'm not looking for one."

"Oh, you don't swing that way, do you?" Gilbert piped in, his face, voice and entire being simply screaming arrogance. "Well, don't worry, Tony, that's still awesome! Just not as awesome as me."

Antonio replied with another whine, pouting even more. Francis and Gilbert simply laughed at his face, and within a matter of seconds, he was laughing along with them.

"Even if you don't want a girlfriend, _mon ami_," Francis spoke up again. "You should at least get into the dating scene, _non_?"

"Don't wanna." Antonio replied, his face scrunched into a childish pout once again.

"Why not?" Francis began to pout, too.

"Because, _amigo_," Antonio stated, "I haven't met_ the one_ yet." He seemed proud with his answer, his eyes aglow and his pout replaced with a confident grin.

"And would 'the one' be male or female, might I ask?" Gilbert had still been laughing - he only just managed to stifle his laughter long enough in order to ask the question. To this, Antonio simply shrugged. Unsatisfied with the answer but not feeling like pressing his friend, Gilbert just grimaced.

The friendly banter continued for a short while before the school bell rang out for the first time that school year. Gilbert seemed pained by the sound of the loud bell, but Antonio seemed simply ecstatic to finally go to his first lesson of the year.

"_Au revoir, mes amis_." Francis left with a wink and a wave; a goodbye that Gilbert and Antonio had become accustomed to over the years, but still found just that little bit weird.

"_Adios!_" Antonio called out, a cheery grin plastered on his face. "I've got Italian first, so I probably won't see you guys until later… Ah, well!~" Gilbert simply groaned in response as he trudged off to his first lesson, obviously not enjoying the thought of learning at all.

* * *

It hadn't taken Antonio very long at all to reach the room in which he would be taking Italian for the next year. He had wanted to take Spanish - since he spoke it fluently already, it would've been a piece of cake - however, the Spanish class had already been full and since he figured Italian was pretty similar, he'd take that instead.

By the time he'd reached the classroom, there were only a few students in the room, and the teacher hadn't even arrived yet. Antonio, being the kind soul he was, noticed a boy sitting alone at the back of the room staring out of the window and immediately went to sit with him.

"_Hola_!" Antonio greeted him, a cheerful smile gracing his lips. "I'm Antonio!" The boy simply grunted and didn't respond, resting his chin on his palm and continuing to stare out of the window, choosing to ignore the Spaniard.

Antonio simply kept grinning and figured that the boy was just shy, and so took a moment to take in the boys appearance (just so he could recognise him if he saw him later, of course!) He looked barely older than Antonio - about 16 or 17 - and had a roundish, pale face. Antonio also noticed a light sprinkle of red dusting his cheeks - okay, it wasn't light, it was _very_ noticeable - Antonio grinned, thinking that he looked kind of like a tomato. He also had dark, brown hair - it was very tidy, excluding a stray strand of hair that curled at the top curiously. Antonio took a moment to wonder if he styled it to stay that way, or if it was just a stubborn piece of hair that refused to come out of that position.

And then, Antonio noticed, that the red that only slightly covered the boys face and expanded further around his face, and he looked even more like a tomato than before.

"Stop staring at me, dammit!" the boy growled, in what Antonio noticed to be an Italian accent.

"Oh! So you're Italian!~" Antonio grinned at his success in getting the boy to talk - not that he'd really been trying to, but at least he had.

"What about it?" the brunette huffed, turning away from Antonio and trying to avoid his gaze.

"Nothing.~" Antonio took a moment to think about what to say next. "So, like I said, I'm Antonio! What's your name?"

"Lovino." Antonio couldn't help but notice that the brunettes tone was harsh. Had he done something wrong?

"Ohh, what a cute name!" Antonio grinned even more as the blush on Lovino's face deepened even further - if that was even possible.

"W-Whatever." Lovino stuttered, practically spitting his words out, refusing to turn and look at Antonio.

"Sorry to change the subject, but why are you in this class? Don't you know it all already?" Antonio suddenly said after a moment of silence - he felt a little hypocritical asking this question, since he had wanted to take Spanish and, being born and raised in Spain, he already knew it.

"I didn't want to learn French, because French sucks." Lovino seemed glad at the change of subject, and his raging blush seemed to calm down, although he still refused to look at the Spaniard next to him. "And since I'm already fluent in the damn language, I thought I might as well."

"But isn't that cheating, Lovi?~~" Antonio grinned, pleased at the new nickname he'd given the brunette. The mentioning of the name, however, caused the boys blush to immediately creep back onto his cheeks.

"Don't call me that. Only my brother calls me that, and even then, I hate it." Lovino growled a little. "And no, it most certainly is not cheating, dammit."

By now, Antonio had got the hint that the Italian liked to slip curse words into everything he said, even if it didn't need to be there. But, he didn't mind, being the kind soul he was. "You have a brother?" Antonio decided to change the subject again, in fear of further irritating the brunette.

"Yeah. He's an idiot of a brother who hangs around with idiots and is all around idiotic." Lovino replied, his blush once again calming down, though he still wasn't yet confident enough (Antonio assumed it was a lack of confidence, anyway) to turn around, stop staring out of the window and look at the Spaniard.

"How old is he?" realising that Lovino was comfortable talking about his brother, Antonio pressed on.

"Thirteen." Lovino replied, starting to play with his fingers in an almost nervous fashion, though his face was scrunched up into a sort of scowl. "We're three years apart."

"Ohh~ Do you live with your parents?" It only took Antonio a moment to realise he'd said the wrong thing, as the Italian had started to sniff and within a matter of moments, tears were steadily rolling down his cheeks.

"I don't want to talk about it." Antonio reached out a hand in comfort, but Lovino slapped it away. At that, the teacher walked into the classroom. Lovino wouldn't talk to Antonio for the rest of the lesson.

* * *

As soon as the bell signalling break went, Antonio moved to pick up his bags, giving the Italian an awkward glance. He noticed that, even though the teacher and every other student had left, Lovino stayed behind.

"Lovi? Everyone is leaving… Don't you want to go to break?" Antonio asked, kindness in his voice. Lovino just grunted - he had stopped crying a long while ago, in fact, he hadn't cried that long at all. He just persisted on ignoring Antonio, presumably so he could avoid any unwanted questions.

"No. Dammit." Lovino scowled, finally allowing himself to speak to the Spaniard, whose face immediately began to glow as soon as the Italian spoke.

"I'm sorry, you know~" Antonio said in almost sing-song voice, determined to get on the Italian's good side, if he had one.

"Whatever. You didn't know." Lovino simply muttered, finally moving and stuffing his books into his bag.

"I reeeally am~" Antonio leaned in to the Italian, pouting. The brunette immediately began blushing again, pushing Antonio away.

"Dammit! You're being creepy!" Lovino spat, but a hint of amusement sparkled in his hazel eyes.

Antonio felt something inside him that moment that he hoped would never go away.

* * *

**A/N: And finally some fluff. Kind of. I hope I'm not going too fast .3.**

**Nope, lots of stuff is going to happen before any SRS BSNZ comes up, 'kay? 'Kay.**


	3. Chapter 2

Title: Escuela de Tomate  
Rating: T to be safe  
Genre: Humour, Romance  
Summary: High School AU. It's the first day back after summer - Antonio's expecting another year of laughs with his friends and boring lessons, but he didn't expect someone new to find their way into his life. Meet Lovino.  
Main Pairings: Spamano, PruHun, France x Everyone  
Warnings: Romano's mouth, Hungary being a yaoi fan and France ahead. Proceed with caution.  
Rated T for touchy subjects.  
Characters: Spain and Romano

**A/N: ****OHHH MY GGGGOOOSSSHH WWHHYYYY  
****Maybe I should stop feeling so bad that I'm writing this and just GET ON AND WRITE IT. D:  
****The ideas are still bursting out of my head like nobody's business. Oh my.  
****Read on!**

* * *

**ESCUELA DE TOMATE**

_**Chapter 2**_

Antonio sat quietly in his room, reflecting on the day's events. After Italian class, he'd been happier than usual - not that anyone else he knew really noticed. He didn't see his favourite brunette Italian again until the last lesson, where they had been forced to sit in alphabetical order and since Antonio was Antonio Carriedo and Lovino was Lovino Vargas, they'd been sat at practically opposite ends of the room.

Antonio had tried to talk to the Italian after school, but he had been shrugged off, with Lovino simply retorting that no, they were not friends, and he "Had to get home, dammit!"

Antonio had offered to give him a ride home, but Lovino had insisted that he could walk, and had marched off, no longer willing to talk to the Spaniard. Nonetheless, Antonio had grinned, waved goodbye, and proceeded to go home.

His mother and asked him how his first day back was, but he didn't respond. He simply gave his family a grin before heading up to his room, willing that the day would end soon so he would be back at school, back in his Italian class, back with Lovino.

Time had gone by slower than Antonio had expected, and by eight o'clock he just wanted to sleep the rest of the day away, but his plans were disturbed by his phone ringing.

"_Hey, sorry I couldn't hang today, Tony!_" Gilbert's immediately recognizable German accent practically burst into Antonio's eardrums.

"It's okay!" Antonio replied cheerfully. "I'm kind of bored, though!~"

"_Yeah, sorry about that!_" Antonio could hear Gilbert laugh from the other end. "_Well, the real reason I called was to ask you something for Liz._"

Antonio could feel something inside of him shatter and the thought of Elisaveta wanting to ask him something. He could almost see what was coming, he could practically hear it already-

"_She wanted to know if she could borrow your car for something she and Kiku are doing next weekend._" A wave of relief washed over Antonio, though he feared for whomever was the victim of Hungary and her minions' stalking.

"That's fine!" Antonio tried his hardest to hide the mixed emotions that were stirring inside of him at that moment.

"_Thanks, bro! See you at school tomorrow, yeah?_" and with that, Gilbert hung up. He was known for his horribly short and blunt phone conversations, but Antonio didn't mind.

And then, finally bored of just sitting around and waiting, he got himself ready for bed, hid himself underneath the covers, and dreamt of tomatoes until early the next morning.

* * *

Antonio woke up later than usual the next day. Thinking it was the usual time he woke up, he got himself ready calmly and slowly, being the laid-back Spaniard that he was. It was only when he went downstairs and noticed that breakfast was already prepared and his family was beginning to leave for their respective education and work that it dawned on him that he had overslept.

He shot his mother an apologetic look before quickly eating his breakfast and shooting out of the door, into his car and drove quickly to school, just in time for the bell. At this point, he now had however long he wanted to calmly get to Italian and sit down, though he just had a feeling that Lovino would be early.

It turned out his suspicions were correct - as soon as he stepped into the room the first thing he noticed was his favourite Italian sitting alone at that same spot, once again staring out of the window.

"Hi, Lovi!" Antonio promptly sat down next to the brunette, who simply grunted.

"Hey." He didn't seem as annoyed this time, and Antonio found himself pouting when that blush that made Lovino look oh-so-much like a tomato didn't appear.

"Soo…~" keen on starting a conversation, Antonio gave Lovino a curious gaze, wondering if he had anything to say.

"What is it?" Lovino growled, rubbing his forehead in what seemed to be irritation.

"…So, you're Italian?~ What are you doing in America?~" Antonio asked after a brief moment of hesitation.

"I thought we gathered that I was Italian yesterday?" the brunette snapped, but nonetheless, he replied. "I moved to America with my Grandfather and my brother when I was 10 years old. I don't know why and I probably never will. And I don't really care."

"How long have you been going to this school?~ I've been here for years and I never saw you!~" Antonio was suddenly keen on knowing everything there was to know about Lovino, nosey and rude as it seemed.

"Since yesterday." Lovino let out a small groan. "Look, I don't really want to talk."

"Why not?" Antonio gave Lovino his best lost kitten look, keen on anything _but_ silence.

"Because you're annoying." Lovino said bluntly. To that, Antonio just pouted, as the teacher had entered the room, so he couldn't further continue their conversation. That didn't stop Antonio from pestering the grumpy Italian throughout the lesson.

* * *

"You're really annoying." Lovino repeated his previous insult as Antonio followed him around at lunchtime, trying to persuade him to talk.

"If you don't want to talk about yourself, why don't you ask _me_ questions?" Antonio pointed out, giving the Italian a light poke.

"Okay. Why don't you leave me alone?" Lovino said bluntly, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"Because I like you, Lovi! You're fun to talk to!" And there came that blush again. Antonio grinned. "You look just like a tomato when you blush, Lovi!"

Lovino spluttered, practically choking on his pasta. "I-I _what_?"

"I said, 'you look like a tomato when you blush'!" Antonio repeated. "It's okay! I like tomatoes! They're cute!"

Lovino spluttered again, this time actually choking. "A-Are you calling me _cute_? What the _hell_, Antonio!" Antonio simply laughed at him, stealing one of the tomatoes in Lovino's pasta, and eating it.

"Leave my lunch alone." Lovino growled, annoyance clear on his face. "Why can't you leave _me_ alone?"

Antonio opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a strong French accent.

"_Excusez moi,_ may we sit with you, Antonio?" Francis said, giving Lovino a quick wink. Antonio felt a strange feeling - different to the ones he had yesterday - and he didn't like it.

"Oh. No wonder Antonio is such a creeper. He's friends with _you_," Lovino spat, about to stand up, but Gilbert's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Huh~?" Antonio gave Francis a sideways glance, curious as to what Lovino meant.

"Lovino here is in me and Francis' maths class." Gilbert said. "He doesn't get to sit with the awesome me, but he gets to sit next to Francis."

"_Oui~_" Francis gave Lovino another wink, which the latter scowled at. The feeling wouldn't leave Antonio's stomach. He wished he knew what it was.

"What's this about you being a creeper, Tony?" Gilbert asked, arrogance still present even in his questioning tone. He suddenly burst into laughter. "The awesome me was right! You DO like guys, don't you, Tony! Bwahaha!" He spluttered, slamming his first repeatedly into the table, causing Lovino to scowl.

Antonio could feel the heat rising to his cheeks, yet he still managed to pout oh-so childishly at his albino friend, though he suddenly felt too choked up to reply. He wondered why. Luckily for him, Lovino hadn't known Gilbert long enough to understand him when he went into laughing fits like this.

"_Anyway_," Francis interrupted, noticing Antonio's sudden embarrassment. "How has your day been, _mon amis_?"

"Fine until you all showed up," Lovino scowled again, but had to mentally slap himself as he hadn't said his day was bad when _Antonio_ showed up. Luckily, the Spaniard had been too busy trying to hide his face from view to notice.

"Ahh… My day?~" Antonio rose from behind his hands, a thoughtful expression present. "It's been fine, I suppose!~" He didn't notice when Lovino's face fell slightly.

"It sucks that you're not in the same classes as me and Francis, 'Tonio," Gilbert said, eating some wurst he'd brought for lunch. "We're in pretty much all the same classes, and you don't get to spend one with us."

"That's okay!" Antonio grinned. "I get to spent half of my lessons with Lovi, so it's fine!~"

"S-Stop calling me Lovi! _Idiota_!" Lovino practically spat the words out as yet another raging tomato-blush spread across his face.

"Doesn't Lovi look so cute when he blushes?" Antonio chuckled, ignoring the Italian's rudeness. "_Muy dulce_."

"_Stai zitto! Stupido!_" Lovino's tomato-blush grew impossibly deeper. "You know Italian is not _that_ different from Spanish, right? I know _esattemente che diavola che stai dicendo_!"

"I noticed," Antonio continued to ignore his insults. "You speak in Italian more when you're flustered.~"

"Shut up."

"Ahh, _amour de jeunesse_~" Francis interrupted the one-sided argument with some French that sounded oddly familiar to everyone that was present.

"_Pezzo di merda_…" Lovino growled, shooting Francis a glare.

"Lovi, did you just swear? Bad!" Antonio pouted, then grinned almost immediately after as he ruffled the Italian's hair. He noticed Lovino flinched a little when his hand came close to the stubborn curl in the middle of his hair.

"I wonder if his hair does the same thing that his brother's does," Francis mused out loud, causing Lovino to shoot an angry glare in his direction.

"Don't you say _anything_, bastard." Lovino cursed between gritted teeth, his eyebrows furrowed.

Antonio was curious now. "I don't get it…"

"And you don't _want_ to get it." the Italian hissed.

"Fine, fine~" Antonio wanted to press on, but there was another matter that had come up just then that was confusing him. "Francis, how do you know Lovi's brother?"

Francis chuckled. "Oh, family relations. Not blood relations, of course, but our family's know eachother, _oui_."

"Aww, so you could've introduced me to Lovi all this time, but you never thought to? You're so mean, Francis…" Antonio didn't turn to look at Lovino, but he hoped he'd brought that cute tomato-blush back.

"Why would you _want_ to meet him?" Gilbert piped in, having not spoken for a while due to viciously eating his lunch. "He's kinda… You know." Lovino shot the albino an angry glare.

"It's okay!~" Antonio grinned. "You know me! I don't care about that sort of thing! I mean, personality does count, but Lovi's personality isn't _tha_tbad!"

"I don't know if I should be flattered or not." Lovino frowned. "Bastard."

"_Non_, I'm sure you want to remain with our little Italian friend here because he is cute." Francis winked at the furious brunette, who seemed about ready to get up and go.

"Of course Lovi is cute!" Antonio laughed. "But I say that to a lot of people!"

Lovino had an unreadable look in his eye as he suddenly picked up his lunch, got up, and walked away.

* * *

**A/N** **Is it just me or does Lovi get angry at Antonio at the end of every chapter? XD  
****This chapter originally had a very different and much crackier ending which I'll be sure to share with you guys some day… Maybe when I've finally finished writing this, yeah?  
****If anyone has any corrections for any one of the foreign languages, be sure to notify me… I'm going from knowledge and online translators here, so I'm sure I've got a lot of it wrong.  
****Is it bad to still think the chapters are too short…? **

**Oh, and I won't update as frequently now. I already had these chapters written out when I first posted the prologue, so...  
Also, is there any pairings you guys specifically want to see in this fanfiction? I won't accept all and they won't be very obvious but I'll slip them in here and there. :3 **


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: ****More chapter? Ho ho! I finished this too quickly. ._.  
****I wanted to get more of the other bad friends in this chapter, so sorry for the lack of Lovino. He'll be back soon, I promise!  
****Thank you to everyone who has favourite this story… It gives me the motivation to keep writing! Thank you!  
****Don't forget to review! ~**

* * *

**ESCUELA DE TOMATE**

_**Chapter 3**_

"I don't know what I did wrong!" Antonio complained as he, Gilbert and Francis sat down in McDonalds. It wasn't their favourite place in the world to eat, but they were low on money and it was sort of a good place to talk.

"You can never tell with Lovino, _mon cher_." Francis reassured him. "I've known him and his brother pretty much since they came to this country and, as much as you can figure out their personalities just like that, figuring out their thoughts is something nobody has ever mastered."

"I'd say give up, Tony." Gilbert said after taking a huge bite from his burger. "The awesome me always give awesome advice, right? Right. So, I say give up on him. He's not worth it."

"What do you mean? I can be friends with him if I want," Antonio was confused now; did Francis and Gilbert know something he didn't?

Francis sighed. "It seems blatantly obvious to everyone but you and Lovino that there is some sort of romance budding."

"But it's only been two days, and I don't think of him in _that _way!" Antonio protested, determined to believe it wasn't true.

"Maybe _amour_ at first sight applies here." Francis replied. "Time doesn't matter, Antonio. You should know that by now."

"Besides," Gilbert interrupted, "This Lovino guy is obviously into you. All the signs point to it."

"And how does that make _me_ into _him_?" Antonio tried to ignore the slight feeling of bliss as he heard the small fact.

"It's obvious!" Gilbert argued, looking determined. "You follow the poor guy around everywhere, and put up with him despite his awful personality!"

"It's just because I'm nice…" Antonio bit his lip. "Isn't it?"

"Have you not noticed it yourself?" Francis chuckled. "You have much to learn."

Antonio opened his mouth to protest again, but Gilbert had shoved a chicken nugget into his mouth. "Just stop trying to deny it, Tony." He warned, a victorious grin on his face as Antonio sat back in his chair, ate the nugget and pouted, no longer trying to further his argument.

After a moment of silence, Gilbert spoke up again. "Well, it's not like you stand much of a chance now. He obviously doesn't like you after today."

"What?" Antonio's expression was priceless - a mix of "OH NOES!" and "what is this I don't even"

"He was obviously upset that you had said that you called many people cute, _mon cher_." Francis pointed out.

"But I do…" Antonio bit his lip again, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"He obviously wants to be the only one you compliment like that," Gilbert sighed, glaring at Antonio as if it was obvious. "He totally has the hots for you and you're the only one who doesn't see it."

"…Oh." Antonio was at a loss for words at that point, so instead of responding, he finally went back to eating his (now cold) meal.

An awkward silence had fallen over the trio when a loud voice burst into their ear drums. "Hey you guys!" a loud and obnoxious American accent had yelled at them - of course, it could have been anyone since they _did_ live in New York, but it was a familiar voice nonetheless.

"What is it, Alfred?" Francis said, resting his chin on his hand.

"Why do you assume I want something?" said American retorted, practically leaping over to where they were sitting. "I just need something to do; Matt disappeared and left me alone!"

"_Matthieu _is still there, Alfred."

"He is..? I couldn't see him." Came the reply.

"I don't see anyone at Alfred's table," Antonio commented, wondering how helpful his statement would be. Obviously not very, since it earned him a happy look from Alfred and angry glares from Gilbert and Francis.

"I'll go talk to him, then!" Gilbert grinned. "I'm sure he'd be happy to be graced with the presence of the awesome me."

"_Non_, Gilbert. Antonio is having a crisis with _amour _and we need to help him." Gilbert pouted in response, but stood up anyway.

"Can't we do it later?"

"Fine, but you're helping tomorrow." Gilbert grinned in response and bounced over to where Alfred's twin, Matthew, was sitting. The Canadian boy had a polar bear plush in his arms, which he seemed to grip slightly tighter when Gilbert started spurting nonsense which contained a lot of "awesome"'s and "me"'s.

"I wonder why he always brings that bear everywhere," Antonio commented after finally spotting the shy blonde. "I mean I know I used to bring my stuffed tomato to school for the first year but I don't any more, and even then I never took it out…~"

"You have it with you now and I know it." Francis patted his friend on the head, and Alfred started to laugh.

"I didn't know you had a stuffed tomato!" the American commented, sitting down in the seat that was once occupied by Gilbert.

"Don't spread it arroounndd…" Antonio whined, looking up at Alfred with pleading eyes.

"It's cool!" Alfred grinned. "Artie brings his stuffed unicorn to school and thinks there are flying bunnies of assorted colours everywhere, so it's not like I find it weird."

"Arthur?" Francis smirked. "He's always been like that, _oui_… Even when he and I were dating."

"Woah, woah, hold up!" Alfred looked shocked. "I always knew Artie was, _you know,_ gay, but he went out with _you_? I thought you hated eachother!"

"We do." Francis replied. "But last year we went out for a bit."

Alfred looked a little sad. "Oh, okay. That's cool."

Francis scoffed, not bothering to reply. Antonio said nothing, simply poking at his burger with one finger, no longer wanting to eat it. Alfred, being terrible at reading the situation, broke the silence. "So, anyway, I can't find Matt and I'm alone. Talk to me about something interesting."

"We're a little busy, Alfred. _Amour_ issues."

"I don't have issues!" Antonio whined, no longer wanting to talk about it. _Why can't he leave me alone,_ he mused.

"Oh! Love problems?" Alfred tapped his chin. "…Nope, I don't know anything about that. Sorry. Let's talk about something else."

"Go talk to Arthur." Francis piped in.

"As if he'd come to McDonalds, Francis. In fact, as if _you'd_ come to McDonalds! What are you guys doing here?"

"We don't have much money." Antonio grumbled sadly. "I need a part-time job or something. Maybe Gil's girlfriend will pay me to let me drive her and her weird minions about on their stalking adventures?"

"She'll let you drive but I doubt she'll pay." Francis informed him.

"Yeah, that's probably true."

"I didn't know Gilbert had a girlfriend!" Alfred interrupted. "That's so annoying! I'm so much more awesome and heroic than he is, how come he gets a girlfriend and I don't?"

"Go talk to Arthur." Francis repeated. "If you don't know where he is, go find him. We're in the middle of an important conversation.

Alfred pouted, then finally gave in. "Fine, fine! But I'm sure you enjoyed my company anyway!" Without waiting for a reply or a goodbye, he was off, and out of the doors.

"I wonder if he payed for his and Matthew's dinner…" Antonio wondered, keen to stay off of the subject of Lovino.

"If he hasn't, we can pay for dear _Matthieu_." Francis responded. "Now, as much as I'd love to stay and give you advice on love, I have to go soon."

Antonio felt almost relieved. "That's okay!~"

* * *

Antonio grumbled into his pillow. He was from _Spain_, the country of _passion_, yet he hadn't figured out his own feelings, or noticed Lovino's? _I'm an idiot,_ he thought. _And it's only been two days! Why are these feelings there?_

He argued mentally with himself for a long time until he finally came to the conclusion that he'd ignore it and let things go their own way. He was about to get up and get something to eat when his phone rang. Once again, Gilbert was calling him.

"_Hey, Tony? I have to look after my lil' bro at the weekend 'cause my parents are out, but I don't want to be alone 'cause he's bringing his friends from school over, so I'm bringing mine!_" Gilbert's voice came through the speaker. "_I already spoke to Francis and he said he couldn't come 'cause he was off in the pursuit of 'l'amour' or something so I need you! Please, Tony! You wouldn't want to kill the awesome by not coming!"_

"Okay!" Antonio laughed. "Sure, I'm not doing anything this weekend! I'll be there!"

"_Thanks, Tony! This is awesome!_" Antonio could practically hear Gilbert grinning. "_Come over at about lunchtime Saturday. You can go home whenever, okay? Awesome! Bye!_" and then he hung up.

Antonio simply threw his phone onto his pillow, and walked up to his calendar, writing in the details for the following Saturday. Maybe hanging at one of his best friends' houses would help him get his mind off the Lovino crisis.

He only had to go to school on Friday after that - since the first day was on Wednesday, it was only a three day long week. Not much happened on Friday - he managed to apologize to Lovino, who gruffly said it was okay and then wouldn't speak to him again. Antonio decided he wouldn't bother the Italian at lunch (as much as he wanted to) and hung around with Francis and Gilbert. The rest of his day was average and he didn't do much different as to what he would usually do.

He slept in on Saturday morning, to wake up at 10 a.m. and promptly get out of bed, have a shower, and get dressed. He had a couple of tomatoes as his breakfast, and since he'd done everything in a slow and laid-back manner he was ready to go by 11. Instead of waiting until lunchtime to go, he walked out of his house and began a leisurely stroll to Gilbert's house.

It was only about a half-hour walk, so by 11:30 he was at Gilbert's house. It didn't appear as though any of Gilbert's brothers' friends had arrived yet.

"Hey, Tony! Glad you're here early!" Gilbert grinned. It was weird to see the albino awake at this time of day at a weekend of all things.

"I would've thought you'd sleep in~" Antonio chuckled. "Hi, Ludwig!" he greeted Gilbert's younger brother, who was sitting eating his lunch at the table.

"_Guten morgen_." The blonde replied, looking up from his plate. It seemed Gilbert was the only one in this family that didn't half-speak German and half-speak English. Antonio remembered him once saying it was because he was "too awesome to speak both and it's more awesome to just speak one".

"So, Ludwig," Gilbert said, creeping up on his younger brother. "When do your friends get here, hm? I have to watch over you scamps all day, so I didn't plan anything awesome to do! You wouldn't want your awesome brother to be bored, hey? That'd be unawesome."

"Any minute now." Ludwig replied. "Feliciano will probably be a bit later. He likes to sleep in."

"Oh, like me! That's awesome!" Gilbert grinned. "Tony likes to sleep in too, right?"

"_Si_!" Antonio grinned. "Though not for very long; I can always just take a siesta later in the day.~"

The three continued to talk for a little while (thought it was mainly Antonio and Gilbert) until there was a knock at the door, which Ludwig got up to answer.

At the door was an Asian boy, with mysterious eyes and short black hair. "_Kon'nichiwa__**,**_ Ludwig." he said, bowing a little.

"Oh, is it your Japanese friend? Awesome!" Gilbert grinned, ruffling the boy's hair, who seemed to flinch a little at the weird affection.

"_Ja_, this is Kiku." Ludwig replied, letting Kiku into the house.

"_Hola_!" Antonio greeted the boy with a smile, who bowed and gave him a small smile back.

"So, you're one of the runts I have to watch over today, hey?" Gilbert laughed. "I'm going to watch over you lot like a hawk."

"I wonder how Feliciano is getting here," Kiku chose to ignore Gilbert's statement. "I don't think he lives close enough to be able to walk on his own."

"I hope his brother doesn't take him." Ludwig shuddered a little. "I know how much he hates me…" Kiku simply nodded. "He goes to your school, _bruder_. You might know him."

"Maybe I'll know if I see him." Gilbert responded, lazily shaking his hand in a dismissive manner. "Do they look alike? I might recognise him from Feliciano."

"_Si_!" Antonio decided to pipe in, wanting a say in the conversation. The opposite could be said for Kiku, who quietly stood next to Ludwig, choosing to listen without saying anything.

After 10 minutes of Kiku and Ludwig listening to Antonio and Gilbert ramble on about their school lives, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Ludwig said, and moved to open the door.

"Ludddyyy!" a high-pitched voice squealed, jumping through the door and leaping at Ludwig. "I made it, veh!"

"_Guten tag_," Ludwig said, almost breathlessly as a small auburn-haired boy hugged the living daylights out of him.

"How did you get here, Feli?" Kiku asked. Antonio assumed that this must be Feliciano, then - though he couldn't really get a good look at the newcomer because he was jumping about so much.

"_Fratello_ took me, veh, but only as far as the gate… He didn't want to come in, but I don't know why!" Antonio could hear an Italian accent in the boys voice. There must be more Italians here than he thought, or maybe… He decided to take a good look at him, since he'd stopped moving about and was now easier to see.

He had smooth auburn hair, and vivid amber eyes. He appeared to be quite young - maybe about 12 or 13? But then, something else caught his eye - he had a curl of hair that strayed off from the right side of his head, very similar to the one Lovino had.

"If you don't mind me asking," Antonio said, looking at the boy curiously. "But what's your brother's name? I think I know him."

"My _fratello_? His name is Lovino, veh!"

* * *

**A/N Not a very cliffhanger-ish ending like I was going for, but meh. We get to hear more about Ludwig, Kiku and Feliciano next chapter, and a bit more about Gilbert… I think I rushed this chapter a bit. ;-; I also wanted it to be longer, but I couldn't think of much else to put… Meh.**

**Your reviews keep me happy ~ I also want to know if I've done something wrong, so don't be afraid to point mistakes out to me. XD**


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